“Stalin never wrote down, or never preserved, any document ordering famine. But in practice [he] forced Ukrainian peasants to make a fatal choice. They could give up their grain reserves and die of starvation, or they could keep some grain reserves hidden and risk arrest, execution or the confiscation of the rest of their food – after which they would also die of starvation.”

Applebaum, Anne Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine (p. 195). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.